Today we have been learning about the importance of coding in today’s society. We have used a coding programme called Scratch Junior to create an interactive story to promote literacy skills. I will explain my interactive story and how it links into curriculum for excellence experience and outcomes. The ability to code computer programs is an important part of today’s society. We now live in a society where huge successful corporations such as Facebook, google and amazon are created and run by the elites in technology. Therefore, by not teaching and giving young people the knowledge and tools to use digital technology and specifically coding we are doing an injustice for the next generation (The Guardian, 2012). When people learn to code, they learn important strategies for solving problems, designing projects, and communicating ideas. Telegraph (2014, P1) states “Students will be expected to create and debug simple programs as well as use technology safely and respectfully”. I think this is important as technology can be abused for the wrong reasons and if children are taught early on about how to use technology safely and respectfully then this can be carried on throughout their lives and careers.
My lesson begins with Clive the dog, he introduces himself and asks for help to find his friends. This is to allow the children to interact with the activity and to feel involved. The story is set on a farm and involves various animals. The next three slides take you on a journey throughout the farm finding Clive’s friends and asking various questions. This is a consolidation activity from prior learning, and it allows the child to interact with the activity and to further enhance their literacy skills through reading and answering questions. This activity further enhances their technology skills as they are asked to finish off the story and decide on an ending of their choice. This will allow the child to use their imagination and be creative. This will enhance their technology skills using their coding skills to complete the task. This activity will be completed in pairs and it will allow children to work collaboratively. Telegraph (2014, P2) states “For the first time children will be learning to programme computers. It will raise standards across the board – and allow our children to complete in the global race”. I feel it was important to allow the children to use the coding activity themselves as it gives the children experience early on in their lives, giving them the best chances of competing in the global race. I have never had any previous experience coding and on reflection of today’s task I feel like I have learnt some valuable knowledge and experience. I thoroughly enjoyed this task and I look forward to teaching children about coding and designing lesson plans for them.
The activity I designed today covered two different areas from the curriculum for excellence (please see pictures attached below) This was aimed for early years level and the first area it covered was Literacy – LIT 0-19a “I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts, sharing my thoughts in different ways” The activity allows children to engage with several different characters and allows them to share their ideas about how the text will end. LIT 0-13a/ LIT 0-21a “I explore sounds, letters and words discovering how they work together, and I can use what I learn to help me as I read and write”. The children will be interacting with this activity by using words to answer the questions and by deciding what best fits for the situation. This will help the children to read and progress through their literacy skills. The second area covered was “Technology” TCH 0-01a “I can explore digital technologies and use what I learn to solve problems and share ideas and thoughts”. This activity encouraged children to work in pairs sharing ideas and thoughts to come up with an ending for the story. On reflection of this activity I can see how useful Scratch Jr can be for future lesson plans. This software can be used to achieve experience and outcomes for curriculum for excellence in a fun and exciting way. I would highly recommend all teachers to become acquainted with this software and to use it as a teaching tool.
Therefore, the importance of teaching coding to our students is imperative to give the student the best possible chances of being successful in today’s ever evolving society in Digital Technology. I feel I have gained valuable knowledge and skills from my coding workshop today and I can already see the positives teaching children this. Not only that but it is an extremely fun and interactive way to teach and it can cover more than just one area of the curriculum, in one lesson. I have thoroughly enjoyed interacting with Scratch Jr and can really feel I am starting to get to grips with technologies.
References
Curtis, S. (2013) Teaching Our Children to Code: A Quiet Revolution. The Telegraph. [Online] 4 November. Available: https:// www.telegraph.co.uk[Accessed: 29 January 2019].
Naughton, J. (2012) Why All Our Kids Should Be Taught How To Code. The Guardian. [Online] 31 March. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/mar/31/why-kids-should-be-taught-code. [Accessed 29 January 2019].
